Prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among sexually active Jordanian females.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the prevalence of the most important sexually transmitted infections among women of child bearing age in Jordan.

GOAL: To assess the need for screening programs to detect sexually transmitted infections.

STUDY

DESIGN

This is a cross-sectional study wherein consecutive symptomatic and asymptomatic women presenting to gynecology and family planning clinics from different areas in Jordan were tested for reproductive tract infections caused by Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Treponema pallidum, and Trichomonas vaginalis.

RESULTS

The prevalence of C. trachomatis infection was 0.6% and 0.5%, among symptomatic and asymptomatic women respectively, that of N. gonorrhoeae was 0.9% and 2.2%, that of T. pallidum 0.0% and 0.0%, and that of Tr. vaginalis was 0.7% and 0.5%. These prevalence rates did not differ significantly between symptomatic and asymptomatic women.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the low prevalence of sexually transmitted infections detected in this study among Jordanian women, the need for screening programs for such infections is questioned.